Singapore Airlines: Performance Management System Analysis HRM380

This case study provides an in-depth analysis of Singapore Airlines' performance management system, highlighting several key issues such as a difficult and rigorous selection procedure, intensive training leading to employee fatigue, the creation of workforce divisions that can lead to unhealthy competition, excessive empowerment of front-line staff, and reward and recognition programs that foster excellence but also induce employee fatigue. The report offers several recommendations to address these issues, including a greater emphasis on employee dedication during recruitment, restricting training frequency, assigning individual roles and responsibilities, appointing supervisors for front-line staff oversight, and incorporating more paid leave and verbal recognition into reward schemes. The ultimate goal is to improve employee well-being, reduce turnover, and sustain high performance levels within the organization. Desklib is your go to platform for similar solved assignments.

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Case Study Analysis – Singapore Airlines
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Executive Summary
Singapore Airlines is one of the most renowned of airline companies in the world today and it is
particularly well known for its in-flight service quality, in addition to timely arrivals and
departures. Singapore Airlines maintains a rigorous process of ensuring that its employees
perform up to the mark at all times of the year, and have a number of schemes in place for this
purpose. This report analyzes all the issues, difficulties and problems that are evident in the
performance management strategies of Singapore Airlines by reading the given scenario. The
report concludes with recommendations that can be taken into consideration by Singapore
Airlines that it can consider in order to look into the wellbeing of its employees, avoid high
employee turnover and encourage good performance at the same time.

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
1. Analysis of Issues in the Performance Management System of Singapore Airlines.............................3
1.1. Difficult, Rigorous and Stringent Selection Procedure.................................................................3
1.2. Intensive Training and Development that leads to Employee Fatigue.........................................4
1.3. Creating a Divide in the Workforce to ensure Excellence............................................................5
1.4. Too much Empowerment of Front Line Staff...................................................................................6
1.5. Rewards and Recognition that foster Excellence but Create Unhealthy Competition and induce
Employee Fatigue....................................................................................................................................7
2. Recommendations to Address the Issues in the Case Study................................................................7
2.1. More emphasis to be laid on employee dedication and Application abilities at the time of
Recruitment.................................................................................................................................................7
2.2. Restrict Training and Development to Twice in a Year................................................................8
2.3. Assigning of Individual Roles and Responsibilities on the Job Front............................................8
2.4. Appoint of Supervisor to Oversee Duties and Behavior of Front Line Staff.................................9
2.5. Including More Paid Leaves and Verbal Recognitions in Reward and Recognition Schemes.......9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10
References.................................................................................................................................................12

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Introduction
Singapore Airlines is one of the best known airlines in the whole world today and is the
national carrier for the country of Singapore. Singapore Airlines offers domestic and
international flight services for customers from around the world and has acquired much name
and fame because of the high standard of in-flight services that it provides its customers with.
Singapore Airlines is also quite renowned for its business practices and is particularly praised for
its performance management system, which keeps the company from experiencing high
employee turnover for the most part (Wang et al., 2019). Yet the fact remains, that Singapore
Airlines is a company that has experienced labor trouble both in the distant and in the recent past,
and the performance management system it deploys is not only that is entirely free from glitches
and flaws. This report analyzes the key issues in the performance management system of
Singapore Airlines based on the given scenario (Wang et al., 2019). The report then proceeds
to provide a number of important recommendations that can be taken into consideration by
Singapore Airlines in order to make sure that its performance management system is truly
flawless, and that it never experiences labor trouble or performance issues from its employees,
ever.
1. Analysis of Issues in the Performance Management System of Singapore
Airlines

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
1.1. Difficult, Rigorous and Stringent Selection Procedure
Singapore Airlines follows a stringent recruitment and selection process with the aim of
hiring only the best and the most competent individuals for the rendition of its services.
Candidates are put through a rigorous examination and interview procedure and are grilled on a
variety of questions pertaining to the airlines and its function in order to gauge whether the
person looking to apply for a post at Singapore Airlines has what it takes to do a good job for the
organization in the long run. While the stringent process of selection and recruitment of
candidates has its many advantages, it also has many disadvantages. For one, Singapore Airlines
may just be overlooking gifted and talented employees that could do the company proud if given
the chance to work for the company. Not all talented individuals, especially those applying for
positions such as cabin crew, ground staff or even for the position of a pilot at Singapore Airlines
will be able to fair too well in an interview, owing to factors such as nervousness or cold feet.
Adopting rigorous and tough standards at the time of selection could therefore mean that many
of these talented employees get overlooked because of the fact that are not able to respond to
queries and questions to which answers are demanded in the moment, and in the bargain the
airlines company loses out on hiring staff who could down the line have proven to be greatly
competent in their work (Bauwens et al., 2019).
1.2. Intensive Training and Development that leads to Employee Fatigue
Singapore Airlines is a company that subjects its employees to intensive training and
retraining procedures on a regular basis with the hopes of fostering excellence of it. On the face
of it, this is a great thing to do. When employees are given exposure to training and development,
they learn a lot on how to work for the company better or to perform certain chores and duties

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
which they would otherwise not have been confident of performing (Wirtz et al., 2008).
However, too much exposure to training and development can poise employees at Singapore
Airlines to acquire the skills and the abilities that are needed in order to leave the organization
and join a different airline company. While the airlines will definitely ensure good quality
performance for its employees through regular training and re-training, it does run the risk in
doing so, of losing its employees to another organization as well. Too much training and
development can also make both the cabin crew members and the ground staff of Singapore
Airlines too tired and exhausted to perform their duties to perfection. Staff members need to be
given the time to relax and unwind when not working, instead of being repeatedly subjected to
training and development, as it leads to fatigue and the loss of energy, which can prove to be
quite dangerous for employees working in the aviation industry. Aviation employees need to be
on guard at all times, especially those who engage in the rendition of in-flight services, as the
safety of customers or passengers is in their hands. Singapore Airlines can ill afford to make its
employees entirely exhausted by subjecting them to training and development programs on a
regular basis. While these programs are definitely aimed at boosting employee performance,
these will also tire employees out, and make them appear discontent and dissatisfied with their
job roles (Collins et al., 2019).
1.3. Creating a Divide in the Workforce to ensure Excellence
It is evident from reading the case study that has been provided that Singapore Airlines is
a company that believes in fostering friendship and cooperation among its employees while
ensuring excellence in performance at the same time. The airlines company is presently served
by as many as 6600 members, all of who are divided into teams of thirteen members each. The
purpose of dividing the employees into so many different teams and that too of thirteen members

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
each is to ensure high level of performance and also help these the members of these teams grow
and bond with each other well enough so that this bonding can get reflected in the excellent
performance of duties and responsibilities, as desired by Singapore Airlines. However, there is a
downside to this creation of teams and the development of carmaraderie and bonding among
team members. The downside lies in the fact that such bonding or feelings of friendship will
remain confined within each group. The thirteen members belonging to one particular group will
feel connected to each other, but they will be unaware of the positive and negative traits or
personalities of the members of the other groups. This in the long run can create a lot of division
and competition among all the different teams that the workforce of Singapore Airlines is
divided into. While competition for the most part would be healthy, at times it could turn
dangerous and unhealthy as well, leading to clashes between teams and unnecessary rivalry,
which could be avoided if the staff at Singapore Airlines were not divided into groups and teams,
but were instead assigned individual responsibilities (Richards et al., 2019).
1.4. Too much Empowerment of Front Line Staff
Singapore Airlines is known to empower its front line staff to make sure that customer
needs and requirements are always duly met. The front line staff members at Singapore Airlines
have to deal with customers for the most part, on their own. Those working in the top level
management at Singapore Airlines seldom have the time or the energy to do this on their own.
This is not a good move for Singapore Airlines to adopt as managers cannot afford to be
completely disassociated from customers and their needs and requirements. There is no
guarantee that the front line staff of Singapore Airlines is always well behaved with customers.
Some customers may be at the receiving end of very rude behavior, because they have no one
other than the front line staff to speak to in order to be able to voice their concerns and their

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
complaints. Handling customers entirely on their own is also something that can prove to be too
stressful for the front line staff at Singapore Airlines at times. It is always better if a presiding
officer or a manager or a supervisor for that matter is present to oversee the duties and functions
of the front line staff (Schleicher et al., 2019).
1.5. Rewards and Recognition that foster Excellence but Create Unhealthy
Competition and induce Employee Fatigue
Singapore Airlines is a company that believes in motivating its staff all around the year
Singapore varied job content are some of the ways by which Singapore Airlines authorities are
seen to recognize the efforts and the good performance of their employees. The issue that arises
out of this rewards and recognition scheme though is that it tires out employees considerably and
makes them compete with each other unnecessarily, resulting in a lot of unhealthy rivalry taking
place within the organization.
2. Recommendations to Address the Issues in the Case Study
2.1. More emphasis to be laid on employee dedication and Application
abilities at the time of Recruitment
Singapore Airlines needs to do away with its stringent recruitment and selection procedures
and opt instead for a recruitment policy where the talents and merits of candidates are recognized
not just on the basis of how well they are able to respond to interview questions or written tests
but how much interest and passion they are able to demonstrate in the job that they are about to
do. Ultimately it is the desire and the zeal on the part of an employee of a company to perform
well for the organization that will decide the extent to which that employee can perform well for

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
the organization. If gifted employees who qualify their interviews have applied for the job only
for the time being, and intend to leave as soon as they get a better opportunity, then the airlines
company will be overlooking those who would have actually been interested in working for the
company in the long run, and well, but who were not able to meet the rigorous and high
standards that Singapore Airlines deploys when it recruits candidates into its ranks. The selection
procedure of Singapore Airlines should therefore be one that is reformed and revised to hire
employees who are able to apply themselves well in critical and stressful situations and who are
able to demonstrate a passion and willingness to do their jobs well, at the time of recruitment
(Stewart & Brown, 2019).
2.2. Restrict Training and Development to Twice in a Year
One of the best ways by which Singapore Airlines can deal with the issues that arise
when rigorously training its employees is to restrict the training and development schemes to
being implemented just twice in a year. Employees should ideally be subjected to training and
development in the lean business seasons, and that too just twice in a year, so that they get
sufficient time and space to absorb what it is that they are being trained in and do not end up
feeling exhausted and tired out. Employees of Singapore Airlines if subjected to training just
twice in a year will actually be able to perform far better, because now they will have the
additional skills, expertise as well as all the energy that is needed in order for them to perform
their job roles with the greatest degrees of efficiency (Tweedie et al., 2019).
2.3. Assigning of Individual Roles and Responsibilities on the Job Front
Dividing employees into teams is definitely a good idea because it helps employees to get
along with one another, and fosters a spirit of bonding. However this spirit of friendship and

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
bonding is something that remains confined to the teams and groups that the employees belong
to. Division of employees into teams leads to rivalry between the teams, which can be a good
and bad thing at the same time. It is better therefore to assign individual roles and responsibilities
that the members of staff at Singapore Airlines can perform to perfection and learn to get along
with each and every member of the organization instead of placing them in teams and keeping
members of staff divided in the process (Tweedie et al., 2019).
2.4. Appoint of Supervisor to Oversee Duties and Behavior of Front Line Staff
It is good that Singapore Airlines empowers its front line employees and
gets them to handle customers all on their own. This gives the front line employees a sense of
being recognized and valued, and for the most part, it should motivate front line staff to give
their best for the organization. However, this power is something that front line staff can take
advantage of in order to behave rudely or lackadaisically when responding to customer requests,
and this in turn is something that Singapore Airlines cannot afford at all. There should therefore
be a supervising manager in place who will oversee the duties and functions that are being
performed by the front line staff of Singapore Airlines. Having a supervising officer in place will
enable the top level management of the organization to understand whether front line staff are
truly doing a good job of responding to customer queries or whether some of them need to be
taken in hand for the possible bad behavior they could be meting out to customers (Wang et al.,
2019).
2.5. Including More Paid Leaves and Verbal Recognitions in Reward and
Recognition Schemes

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
The rewards and recognitions scheme of Singapore Airlines is one that is
rightly designed to help employees get the motivation or the incentive that they need in order to
perform their best for the organization. No doubt, rewards and recognitions in the form of
variable pay and varied job components can go a long way in helping employees to do their very
best for Singapore Airlines. There is nothing that an airline cabin crew member or a ground level
staff would want more than to be given monetary awards to a variety in terms of job roles in
order to gain the inspiration and the good positive feeling that is needed in order to deliver the
optimum for the organization. However, rewards and recognitions while needed, also motivate
employees to work beyond their physical and emotional and even mental capacity at times,
making them all tired and fagged out while encouraging unhealthy competition too. It is
therefore recommended that in addition to financial rewards and recognition, employees should
be rewarded by being given a greater number of paid leaves, the option of flexibility in terms of
shift timings and being recognized in front of their peers and associates through warm gestures
and speeches by the top level management. It cannot be denied that financial rewards and a
formal prize distribution system helps in acknowledging the efforts of employees in the best
possible way, but in the ultimate analysis it leads to employees overworking and competing with
each other in an unhealthy way. Financial rewards and formal prizes should therefore be
accompanied by warm and personal speeches made by top level of the management, and bonus
prizes like additional paid leaves to recognize the good work done by an employee should be
implemented, to make the airline staff and cabin crew feel recognized, well rested and valued all
at the same given time (Kalawilapathirage et al., 2019).

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Conclusion
Thus, there are quite a few ways by which Singapore Airlines can do away
with its high performance and excellence driven performance management tactics and opt for
tactics that are far more realistic, and employee friendly, in order to prevent problems such as
high employee turnover while assuring good performance by employees at the same given time.